Rookie hadn't met Grayfist before, but he had heard of his reputation. Seeing him once really did beat hearing about him a hundred times.
Grayfist made quite the splash, and the moment he opened his mouth, he immediately established his whole persona.
Seeing that, Rookie couldn't help but shake his head. 'No wonder he turned into an ex-husband. With that loud, jumpy attitude, how could he possibly keep Steve in check?'
While Rookie was sighing to himself, he noticed Entity 303 moving closer. After glancing at Grayfist, he asked Rookie, "Who's this 'quality bro'…?"
Out of the four "conjoined twins," Entity 303 knew three of them.
No need to mention Pengpeng and Black Blade, they were old acquaintances. Steve had only joined later, but since everyone had spent a lot of time together before entering the item dimension, they had all become familiar with him.
After going back and forth like that, they naturally got quite close.
Among the four, Grayfist was the only one Entity 303 had never seen.
Originally, Entity 303 hadn't been particularly curious about Grayfist. From the looks of it, he was clearly with Steve, Pengpeng, and Black Blade, which was why Notch had brought all four of them here together, so Entity 303 didn't ask much.
But the moment Grayfist opened his mouth, Entity 303 couldn't hold it in anymore. He instantly became curious about who this "quality bro" actually was.
Hearing the title "quality bro," Rookie almost lost it on the spot. Just as he was about to introduce "the ex-husband bro" to Entity 303, he suddenly noticed that Steve, Black Blade, and Pengpeng had all woken up.
The three of them had obviously been shouted awake by Grayfist's loud voice.
Seeing Pengpeng wake up, Little Bug quickly and carefully set him down, then looked at Black Blade, Pengpeng, and Steve with concern, "Are you guys okay? Why are you all here? And how did you get here?! Also, it looks like you arrived just in time!"
Black Blade, Pengpeng, and Steve had been woken up by Grayfist's shouting, and at the moment they were still completely confused.
Seeing everyone gathered in front of them, along with the golden, radiant Xu Yuan, their minds instantly froze.
"Hey, you three, say something…"
It wasn't until Grayfist slowly moved closer to them and his voice rang out by their ears that the three finally snapped back to their senses. Then they hurriedly let go of each other's hands as if trying to avoid suspicion.
Seeing this scene, Grayfist fully woke up as well. And after waking up, his whole body stiffened.
Even though Grayfist was extremely outgoing, this kind of situation was still something he had never experienced. Faced with such a scene, he couldn't help but shrink back a little.
After all, before this he had only seen Xu Yuan and the others under him on game forums. Seeing them on a forum and seeing them in person were two completely different things.
And Grayfist also knew very well that aside from Xu Yuan, everyone else present was unfamiliar with him.
On top of that, he had just been cursing loudly right after waking up, so now he didn't dare say anything more.
As Grayfist sat there feeling like he was on pins and needles, Black Blade finally stepped in like a hero to save him. "My… my king…"
"And everyone… we succeeded, didn't we?!"
Black Blade was usually very steady emotionally, rarely showing big fluctuations, but right now even his body couldn't help but tremble.
At this moment, Pengpeng was actually the calmer one. He scanned everyone present, already forming a rough understanding of the situation.
Then, recalling what Little Bug had just said, he thought for a moment before stepping up in front of Xu Yuan.
Because of the effects of gravity, it wasn't convenient for Pengpeng to perform a proper salute, so he didn't fuss over the details and simply nodded. "My king… you've returned…"
After releasing his emotions, Pengpeng steadied himself a bit and began reporting. "We managed to enter this place because of a single instruction from Rookie."
"Before the game shut down, Rookie spoke with Steve. Before ending the call, Steve asked Rookie what he should do at that moment."
"He told Steve to think about a question: 'What does this game mean to you?'"
"At the time, Steve didn't understand what that meant…"
At this point, Pengpeng looked at Black Blade, Steve, and Grayfist, then continued, "Later, after my king disappeared, the four of us went crazy calling Rookie, but he never picked up."
"Eventually, Grayfist got through, but the one who answered wasn't Rookie. It was his master, Old Wu."
"Old Wu told us about the concept of the surface world and the inner world. He also told us that before Rookie and Notch took action, Rookie had told him to recall how he felt when he made the God of War Blade."
At this point, Pengpeng couldn't help but glance at Little Bug before continuing, "Earlier, I studied things related to the mental domain and the subconscious…"
"Combining what Rookie said to Steve with what he said to Notch, I roughly deduced that the inner world might be connected to our minds or subconscious."
"After reaching that conclusion, all we could do was try our best."
"While recalling what this game means to us, we also tried to establish a connection with this world."
As he said this, a smile finally appeared on Pengpeng's face. "I didn't expect we would actually succeed."
At this moment, hearing Pengpeng's detailed line of reasoning, Rookie was genuinely shaken.
Pengpeng's conclusion was clearly the same as Rookie's, but Rookie had arrived at it through large amounts of data, while Pengpeng had reached it using only fragments of information.
Of course, what surprised Rookie wasn't that Pengpeng could reach this conclusion from such fragments.
He knew very well that those fragments were already the most essential, refined pieces of information, so there was nothing strange about arriving at that conclusion.
What truly shocked Rookie was Pengpeng himself. When Rookie had previously compiled information related to Xu Yuan, it was inevitable that some information about Pengpeng was included as well.
To be honest, compared to Steve, Grayfist, and Black Blade, Pengpeng was just an ordinary person, as ordinary as could be.
Steve, Grayfist, and Black Blade were all naturally talented, quick-witted individuals. Their starting points were already high. Simply put, they were born to become big shots.
In contrast, Pengpeng had average aptitude, definitely not someone gifted.
Yet his reputation had always been on par with Steve, Grayfist, and Black Blade. He had never been overshadowed by them.
The reason people respected him wasn't because he was the first player to follow Xu Yuan, but because he had always been working hard to improve himself, making himself worthy of his position.
That was what Rookie truly admired about Pengpeng. The story of an ordinary person striving to become extraordinary is far more moving than the story of someone who was a genius from the start.